{"id":1666,"date":"2025-11-08T23:23:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T23:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/?p=1666"},"modified":"2025-11-09T21:12:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:12:06","slug":"dr-roy-powell-hullin-at-whitchurch-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/?p=1666","title":{"rendered":"Dr Roy Powell Hullin at Whitchurch Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whilst reading a post on the Whitchurch Hospital Instagram page I noticed the name Mr Hullin on an extract of the 1946 Annual Report.  <\/strong>
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City of Mental Hospital \n39th Annual Report<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


I thought, I know that name. Wondering if it could it be the same Dr Roy Hullin I had read about in other books and articles I commented asking the question \u2013 was it him?  It wasn\u2019t known so I began investigating!!  Gwawr from the Whitchurch Hospital Historical Society found some interesting information regarding his PhD training at the Hospital.  I further investigated and discovered a fantastic link to Whitchurch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roy Hullin Graduated in Swansea in 1944 gaining a degree in Physics and Chemistry.\u00a0 He began working as a Research Chemist for Boots Drug Company in Nottingham working on anti TB drugs.\u00a0 In 1947 he saw a post advertised at the Cardiff City Mental Hospital, Whitchurch. Having no previous knowledge of mental illness, he started work in the laboratory and was asked by the Director of Research Derek Richter, to study the brains of deceased psychiatric patients. For 2 years he collected the brains of psychiatric patients bringing them back to Whitchurch Hospital.\u00a0 He collected \u2018normal\u2019 brains to make comparisons. He processed the brains taking cell nuclei from the cerebral cortex, placing them in a large centrifuge. It was discovered that there was a significant difference in the brains of patients with senile dementia.\u00a0 <\/strong>
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Dr Derek Richter (front row: 2nd from the left) and Roy Hullin (3rd from the left)\nMany thanks to Sally Festing (Dr Richter\u2019s daughter) and family & the Biochemical Society for giving permission to share this photo from Dr Derek Richter\u2019s scrapbook.\nThe scrapbook is part of the Wellcome Collection: https:\/\/wellcomecollection.org\/works\/kq42uvwq<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr Hullin\u2019s interest in mental illness grew whilst working at Whitchurch hospital and he remained there for 3 years completing his PHD. In 1949 the Universities were given money through the ICI Research Fellowships.  Dr Hullin applied and got a Fellowship beginning research on live patients with Professor Happold, the Governor of the Quaker, York Retreat.  Dr Hullin spent 3 years researching patients there noticing fluctuating sodium levels in patient with depression. He then became interested in studying patients with \u2018manic depression\u2019 we now call this Bipolar disorder.  Dr Hullin then took a job at High Royds Hospital, Menston.  He wanted to study a greater number of patients and High Royds was a much larger hospital.  He was equipped with all the necessary resources and began his research.  Dr Hullin\u2019s studies on the use of Lithium changed thousands of patients lives for the better.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Hullin spent 32 years as head of the High Royd Hospital\u2019s Metabolic Research Institute and was a pioneer in the treatment of \u2018manic depression\u2019 (Bipolar disorder)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Roy Powell Hullin passed away in May 2012 aged 88 years old.  A memorial bench sits in tribute in the High Royds memorial garden<\/strong>.
Thank you to the Friends of High Royds Memorial Garden for sending and giving permission to use their photographs.
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Thank you so much to the Friends of High Royds Memorial Garden for sending and giving permission to use their photographs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was thrilled to discover Dr Hullin\u2019s career and interest in mental illness began at Whitchurch Hospital and the pioneer he went on to be!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to Gwawr for asking me to write this piece.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natalie Warren<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many thanks to the Mental Health Museum, Wakefield, for their assistance with our research and for contacting the Friends of High Royds Memorial Garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whilst reading a post on the Whitchurch Hospital Instagram page I noticed the name Mr Hullin on an extract of the 1946 Annual Report.  I thought, I know that name. Wondering if it could it be the same Dr Roy Hullin I had read about in other books and articles I commented asking the question […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,17],"tags":[103,105,94,106],"class_list":["post-1666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annual-report","category-photos","tag-dr-hullin","tag-dr-richter","tag-guest-post","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1666"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitchurchhospital.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}